I bought a second Astroscan so I could give one to my daughter's family as a starter scope. It is without eyepieces, which are readily available, and the base, which I haven't seen anywhere. Someone on SN had commented that a large bowl would also work. I found an appropriately colored bowl for popcorn at a local Goodwill store with an inner diameter of 8 1/4" The bowl is glazed, and the Astroscan fits and moves easily. I am not sure it even needs felt pads. The bowl is about the same weight as the original base, so the setup should be stable. I plan to give my daughter my old base and use the red-hot popcorn base on my adjustable height table with the milk crate base. The potential downside is that the original base can be attached to a tripod, but that worked poorly on my lightweight camera tripod anyway.